Hyde5: Dolphins rookie class providing defensive impact

Dolphins coach Adam Gase praises team for being able to move on in the face of adversity.

With roughly 20 actual practices between training camp and preseason, the developmental curve for teams to strike some identity typically stretches into October. It's especially hard on young players with such little practice time to improve.

What you're seeing from the Dolphins draft class now that they're getting their feet under them is promising. Adam Gase went against form in the draft for an offensive-minded coach -- something more that suggests he gets what being a head coach is about. His first three players and five of the first six were for the defense. And if these players keep trending up, it could be a signature draft by general manager Chris Grier and vice president of football operations Mike Tannenbaum and the scouting staff.

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Let's look the class from the early milepost of mid-October:

-- Charles Harris. The 22nd overall pick looked out of sorts in preseason. In 99 snaps, he had one tackle and one assist. But you've seen the talent flash at times in the regular season in his reserve role. He has one sack and four tackles thus far. He also had two hurries and a quarterback hit against the Saints, two hurries and a tackle for loss against the Titans and a quarterback hit Sunday against Atlanta. Some of his work isn't statistically quantified, like him stringing out a sweep against the Falcons. No top Dolphins pick in years has been able to develop quietly like Harris behind a great player in Cameron Wake. Harris played 24 snaps (42 percent) against the Falcons. He's coming along and works hard enough to the point you can see he could be very good as a finished product.

-- LB Raekwon McMillon. The second-round pick was having a good summer and was the one sure rookie to be starting when he tore his ACL in the first preseason game.

-- CB Cordrea Tankersley. It seemed surprising when the third-round pick, who hadn't played or practiced with the No. 1 unit (at least in parts visible to media), was named the starter in London against Drew Brees and the Saints. Brees congratulated Tankersley after the game. He's playing with that kind of impact. On Sunday, he tipped Matt Ryan's pass and Reshad Jones intercepted it to seal the game in the final minute. Good man-to-man skills, competitiveness and size (6-1) mean he could be helping this defense for years. Still early, but he's looking like a great third-round pick.

-- G Isaac Asiata. The hope was he'd step in to an open guard position – or at least compete. The Dolphins kept him on the roster, but he hasn't been active for a game. We'll have to sit back and wait to see where this goes. His story hasn't been written yet.

-- DT Davon Godchaux. The defensive tackle taken in the fifth round and 178th pick overall was the surprise of training camp and hasn't stopped. He's provided the defensive line with needed help against the run. His stats of 7 tackles, 2 assists and a forced fumble just start to tell the story of his often complementary position. He has split time with Jordan Phillips. In fact, on Sunday Godchaux and Phillips had 21 snaps each. The previous week when Phillips was out with an ankle sprain, Godchaux played 58 percent of the defensive plays and shared time with ...

-- DT Vince Taylor. The sixth-round pick has quietly made good impact this season. He has nine tackles and three assists. He played 39 percent of the snaps against Tennessee when Phillips was out. He played just nine on Sunday with Phillips back. But the larger point is the Dolphins defensive line is getting good help from two rookie tackles.

-- WR Isaiah Ford. The seventh-round pick was placed on injured reserve after a knee injury in August.

Throw in, too, undrafted rookie Chase Allen, who stepped in a desperate situation at linebacker early in the year and is a special-teams regular as his 19 special-teams snaps Sunday showed.

Bottom-line: There are four rookies contributing heavily to a good defense. It would have been five if McMillan wasn't hurt. So the Dolphins didn't just get the help they wanted. If this keeps trending the next couple of seasons, they might have had the kind of roster-changing draft they've lacked many years. This defense's lack of depth was exposed by injury last year. These rookies are giving it some quality depth this year.

2. Pro Football Focus grades for the week had running back Jay Ajayi and defensive end Cameron Wake as the top players in the league at their positions. Ajayi had 26 carries for 130 yards – 90 of those yards after contact. "Wake was unblockable all afternoon," PFF wrote, with five hurries and two sacks.

3. For the first time, Jay Cutler made a defense pay some for blitzing him, PFF said. He entered Sunday ranked 32nd in the league with a quarterback rating of 49.8 when under pressure. But he completed 12-of-15 for 107 yards and a 96.4 rating when Atlanta got pressure on him. Cutler completed 11-of-22 for 84 yards and two TDs with no pressure.

4. As good as this draft class appears, the 2016 draft needs to come on. Laremy Tunsel has played, "OK, just OK,'' offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen said last week. Leonte Caroo got extensive playing time with 24 snaps Sunday in the absence of DeVante Parker, but had just two balls thrown his way. He dropped one and the other resulted in an interception. Xavien Howard? PFF said he was, "targeted a team-high eight times, allowing six receptions for 91 yards and a touchdown." OK, he was against Julio Jones much of the day, so most cornerbacks will be in trouble. Still, Howard's grade for the season ranks him 111th of 114 qualifying cornerbacks via PFF grades.

5. Revised T-shirt of the week: This message after the Dolphins' win against Atlanta: "Our Coaches Do Blow, Your Coaches Blow Leads."

The Falcons have a Super Bowl rematch against the Patriots on Sunday and, as if in preparation, blew a 17-0 lead in the second half. Thoughts of blowing that 28-3 lead to the Patriots? Well, the Falcons had the creative line of "disrespect to ourselves" after losing to the Dolphins and Bills at home.

"Losing, in general, is hard," Falcons free safety Ricardo Allen said. "But two times in a row at home? That's a disrespect to ourselves. That's a disrespect to our coaches. That's a disrespect to our owner. That's a disrespect to our fans. That's a disrespect to everybody that surrounds the damn Falcons because that's not us."